1973

ur activities for 1973 were pretty much a repetition of 1972, with lawn, gardens, berry picking and working on the house. We took a trip or were looked forward to the coming of guests almost weekly. Troy remained active in the Rockingham Male Chorus and there were several long trips with it during the year.

Troy finished the work on the carport during this year. The skunks were worse than usual. We would smell them at different times and they got most of our corn. Troy belonged to the Puritans and one night the men talked of the trouble they were having with skunks. Those who were at the meeting took a tally and together they had shot twenty-five.

(I spent one night sitting out under one of the apple trees with a flashlight strapped to a Winchester bolt-action .22 rifle. Sure enough, the skunk showed up and as he came within 30 feet of the garden, I took  aim, flipped on the flashlight and got off about three shots. I'm sure I hit it even though it got back to the woodpile and disappeared into it, because we no longer had any more problems with skunks in the corn. I think Drew has that old rifle now. RmB)

We started back to Florida with Robbie and stopped two nights with the Harrises. They took us the next day to Chimney Rock, N. Carolina. A beautiful waterfall was some distance from the visitors' center. There were two ways of reaching it, both rather rugged, but one way much more so than the other, albeit more scenic. The Harrises had seen it several times so they waited at the center for us. They had invited a neighbor boy to go along as company for Robbie. Troy decided he would not tackle the more rugged approach, with its many steps and steep inclines. I took that trail but returned to the center by the easier route. The boys were not with me and I do not remember which trail they took. Libby had packed a delicious picnic lunch which we enjoyed very much after our strenuous exercise.

After visiting in Florida we returned home June 8th to learn that the District Superintendent of our denomination had been trying to locate us in Florida. He wanted Troy to assume the pastorate of the Mountain Valley Church, which was fifteen miles to the cast of the Glen. We told him we did not want to go back into the active ministry. We were planning on spending our vacations in Florida and felt that we could not do that with the responsibility of a church. He finally said, "If you folks will not take it I will have to send lay people out to speak on Sundays and the work there will deteriorate." He assured us that he would not expect us to do anything aside from the Sunday morning sermon and visiting the sick in the hospital and that he would not expect us to serve but one year. We felt that we did not have a good reason, but a selfish one if we refused. So the middle of June in 1973 we were again in the active ministry!

Robert Vangilder was a ministerial student in Shenandoah College while we were there. He married Delores Chenoweth, a wonderful Christian girl from the Coffman Chapel Church near Elkins. We knew both young people well and while Bob was in Shenandoah they had charge of the infirmary at the school. This helped them so much financially because their apartment was rent free in the same building.

After Bob finished his college they went to Dayton so he could get his seminary training. Here Bob served one of the student churches in the Miami Ohio Conference. By this time they were parents of four daughters. ( I chose to leave out the next couple of paragraphs about Bob because they are not relevant to this book. Nor too complimentary. RmB )

On July 5th we went to Elkins and Troy did some wiring for Blair McQuain and we spent the night with them. The next day we drove from Elkins to Canton, Ohio and stayed the night of the 6th with his half-sister Lois and her husband, Louie. Lois' children mere all grown, but she still ruled them with an iron hand. I enjoyed being with her. She was a hard worker and seemed to know how to accomplish what she started out to do. She had a fairly large nursing establishment just across the street from her home.

The Brady family reunion was to be at her, Lois' home the next day. She had told her daughters just what she expected from them and they prepared a lot of the food and carried it in, but did not stay for the meal. We certainly had an abundance of everything. Lois' second husband was a Catholic and she became a member of the Catholic Church. Our anniversary had just passed and she gave us the Madonna statuette we still have. Since Heidi is a Catholic we would like her to have that eventually. Drew gave us the cross which hangs by our front door when he was a teenager. That is to go back to him.

On July 9th Helen and Russell Schrock had us to their home for dinner. We spent the evening with them. Helen was the organist at her church and Troy became acquainted with the couple when he conducted a revival at the church. We continued to see them on our trips to Akron and after we moved to Bradenton they spent their vacations several different years in Florida. We would always spend some time together.

Helen came to the funeral home to see us after Gotthart's death. At that time Russell was in the hospital dying of cancer. After his death Helen married Guy Shumaker, whom she had known from their work in one of the rubber plants in Akron. They moved to Bradenton after we went to Winter Park, but we kept up our contacts over the years. They have visited us here in Sharpes and we have seen them on our trips to Bradenton. They made the chimes which hang in our carport. Guy died about two years ago and Helen moved back near Akron to be near her daughters. She is gradually losing her eyesight. So many of our bosom friends are now gone. We are very grateful for the state of our health. The Shoemakers were both younger than we are.

While we were in Akron this time Troy paneled Elma's office. It looked so nice when he had it finished on July 11th. We returned home on the 13th. (1973)

Troy was asked to conduct the funeral of Ora White in Weston, West Virginia. The funeral was on July 23rd. It had been thirty-one years since Troy served as the pastor of their church, which was at Freemansburg. I remember the family well. We had been invited to the home for meals more than once while on that charge. Their children were teenagers at that time. Mrs. White's father had been a minister in the United Brethren Denomination. He was known as a rather pompous preacher; always careful in his dress and manner. It was said that he would never eat without wearing the coat to his suit, even at home in hot weather. I think that was probably an exaggeration. We were very surprised when they phoned about the funeral, since we had no contact with them in all that time. It was good to see the children again after so many years. When the funeral was over Troy was handed an envelope with their expressions of thanks. A $50.00 bill was enclosed. That was the largest gift he had ever been given for a funeral at that time.

We drove to Akron on August 20th to attend the Thrash reunion, which Ted and Blossom were hosting the next day. Blossom was an excellent cook and it was so good for all to be together again. Someone was showing pictures from the previous year's reunion and Ruby exclaimed, "Oh, for Heaven's sake! I wore the same dress today that I wore last year." She was the only one who gave it a thought. We all knew she had lots of nice clothing.

Elma did not get to attend this reunion. She was in the hospital. I think most of us went to see her in the afternoon. Beulah, Buddy, Troy and I stayed at her house that night. She had an electric lamp that would not light, so Troy fixed it while we were there.

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